Guidance

My name is Brianne Crotts and I am the school counselor. Some of the duties that I have are meeting with parents, meeting with students, small group lessons, classroom guidance, and testing coordinator.
I talk with students for a variety of reasons. It may be that they are having a bad day and just need someone to talk to, they may be having problems with someone in their classroom, they could be causing some trouble in their classroom, or they have had something happen that is affecting them like the death of a family member or the divorce of their parents. I talk with the students individually and sometimes we may read a book or draw a picture. Sometimes if a student is having problems with someone else I will have both of them is my office to talk about what is going on and to find a solution to the conflict.

Sometimes I will have a small group of students meet once a week for about 30 minutes on a specific topic. I might hold a small group on social skills, anger management, divorce, or any other topic that is troubling a group of students. We work on identifying the feelings attached to the troubling area and ways to help cope with what is happening. This allows students to see that they are not the only ones having trouble with whatever we are meeting about. It also helps the students develop their own network of people who they know understands them and can be helpful.

I also go into classrooms and do whole class guidance lessons. I will work with the students about many different topics. Some of the topics that I will work with are being responsible, being respectful, being as good citizen, test-taking strategies, getting along with others, careers, bullying, or following directions. We may play games, draw pictures, read books, or even do writing activities.

I am available to talk with parents whenever the need arises. I talk to parents about concerns that they have with their students academically or socially. I can also provide information to parents about things that they can do with their child to help them or ways that they can talk to their child.

One of my other duties is being testing coordinator. This means that I am in charge of all standardized testing for McCrary. I train all of the teachers about administering the various tests and I make sure that the tests are administered correctly. The ITBS (Iowa Test of Basic Skills) is an assessment that Reading First uses to look at growth of students. This is administered in the fall and in the spring to grades K-3. The ITBS is also given to 3rd and 5th grades in the fall. The CogAT (Cognitive Achievement Test) is administered to 3rd and 5th graders in the fall. Fourth graders will be given the North Carolina Writing Test in the spring. The End Of Grade Tests (EOG) is given at the end of the year to all 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students in reading and math. Starting in the spring of 2008 5th will take the Science EOG. There may be other various testing like Field Tests that your student may be taking. There will be letters sent home before the test letting parents know about the test before the students take it. If you have questions regarding testing please feel free to call me.

I love working with all of the students. I look forward to getting to know your students and helping them in anyway I can. Please let me know if there are things that I can do to help you or your student.


Crotts